Aberrant Salience Inventory Research Articles

Cannabis Use, Psychotic Like Experiences and Aberrant Salience in a Sample of Belgian Students.

The main goal of our study was to investigate the association between psychotic-like experiences, aberrant salience, and cannabis use in a nonclinical sample of Belgian students. The participants were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire on cannabis use. The Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences and the Aberrant Salience Inventory were used to assess psychotic-like experiences and aberrant salience. The final sample was of 257 students. Cannabis users showed significantly higher Aberrant Salience Inventory score and, concerning the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences, higher total, positive, and negative dimension scores. Years of cannabis use and frequency of use showed a positive correlation with Aberrant Salience Inventory score. Our results support the evidence that cannabis use is associated with an increased rate of psychotic experiences in individuals without a clinical form of psychosis. Future studies are required to better investigate the meaning of the association between cannabis use, psychotic-like experiences, and aberrant salience.

The relationships among aberrant salience, reward motivation, and reward sensitivity.

Change in reward processing and motivation may mediate the relationship between dopaminergic dysregulation and positive symptoms of schizophrenia. We sought to investigate the measurement of aberrant salience and its relationship with behavioural measures of reward and motivation. Participants (n=82) completed measures of aberrant salience (Aberrant Salience Inventory and Salience Attribution Task), motivation (Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task), and reinforcer sensitivity (Stimulus Chase Task). Hypotheses were tested using correlation and generalised linear modelling. Results indicated no relationship between aberrant salience measures. The Aberrant Salience Inventory was positively related to effort expenditure for lower less likely rewards and predicted the use of probability alone in decision-making. The only significant relationship between reward and motivation was a positive relationship between gain sensitivity and motivated behaviour for higher more likely rewards. Although some support for a relationship between measures of reward motivation and aberrant salience were found, there was no evidence that the aberrant salience measures had concurrent validity. Our results suggest caution is warranted when interpreting measures of aberrant salience.

S70. ABERRANT SALIENCE: A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT MEASURES IN ANXIETY AND SCHIZOPHRENIA

BackgroundAberrant salience is thought to play a role in the development of the symptoms of schizophrenia, but the hypothesis lacks consistent support. Previous research found no relationship in a population sample between two measures of aberrant salience: the self-report Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) and the computerised Salience Attribution Task (SAT), which measures implicit (behavioural) and explicit (self-report) aberrant and adaptive salience. We compared the ASI and SAT in individuals with schizophrenia, with anxiety, and with no mental disorder (unaffected).MethodsIndividuals with schizophrenia (n = 30), anxiety (n = 33), or unaffected (n = 30) completed the ASI and the SAT.ResultsASI scores were higher in the schizophrenia group than anxiety (t(90) = 2.72, p < .01) and unaffected groups (t (90) = 5.29, p < .001) and higher in the anxiety than unaffected group (t(90) = 2.69, p < .01). SAT explicit adaptive salience scores were lower in the schizophrenia group than the anxiety (t(90) = -3.79, p < .001) and unaffected groups (t(90)= -3.86, p < .001). The schizophrenia group also had higher SAT implicit aberrant salience than the anxiety group (t(90) = 2.57, p < .05) but not the unaffected group (t(90) = 3.75, p = .08); there was no difference between anxiety and control groups (t(90) -0.76, p = .45). Group did not affect SAT explicit aberrant salience (F(2,91) = 0.47, p =.63) or implicit adaptive salience (F(90) = 0.62, p = .54). We found no correlation between the ASI and the SAT (all τ < .218, p > .05).DiscussionHigher ASI scores were associated with, but not unique to, schizophrenia. Reduced SAT explicit adaptive salience was associated with schizophrenia, while SAT implicit aberrant salience scores differed between psychopathologies. Consistent with previous findings, there was no relationship between the ASI and the SAT. The ASI is designed to measure a trait associated with schizophrenia. Conversely, the SAT implicit aberrant salience measures response latency to irrelevant stimuli. The lack of relationship between ASI and SAT may, therefore, be due to construct divergence.

P.3.b.028 - Aberrant salience inventory and first rank symptoms: assessing proneness to psychosis beyond diagnosis

Betulinic acid (BA), Oleanolic acid (OA) and Ursolic acid (UA), are pentacyclic triterpenoids with widespread occurrence throughout the plant kingdom, these compounds are widely recognized by their pharmacological and biological properties, such as, anti-tumoral, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and hepatoprotective activity. In this work we determined the inhibitory ability of these compounds on the enzymatic, hemorrhagic, myotoxic and edema-inducing activities of Batx-I, a P-I metalloproteinase isolated from Bothrops atrox venom. BA, UA and OA inhibited the proteolytic activity of Batx-I on gelatin with IC50 values of 115.3, 223.0 and 357.3 μM, respectively. Additionally, these compounds showed inhibition of the hemorrhagic activity of Batx-I in skin with IC50 345.7, 643.5 and 1077.0 μM for BA, UA and OA in preincubation experiments. In studies with independent-injection, in which Batx-I was injected and then, at the same site, a concentration of 600 μM of each compound were administered at either 0, 5 or 10 min, BA showed a significant reduction of hemorrhage at 0 and 5 min. In addition, these compounds inhibited myotoxicity and edema-forming activity of Batx-I at 600 μM concentration. Molecular docking studies suggested that these compounds could occupy part of the substrate binding cleft of the enzyme affecting its catalytic cycle. In this manner, triterpenic acids are candidates for the development of inhibitors for the prevention of local tissue damage in snakebite envenomation.

Tracking salience in young people: A psychometric field test of the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI).

To explore the prevalence of Aberrant Salience (AS, an alleged experiential feature of psychosis-proneness) in Italian young people and corroborate the transcultural validity of the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI). Young adults attending an Italian university (n = 649) underwent serial evaluations with the ASI together with psychometric proxies for help seeking General Health Questionnaire and attenuated positive and negative symptoms Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). The distribution of ASI scores was explored with latent class analysis (LCA). Reliability of the Italian version of the ASI (I-ASI) was acceptable for all subscales (ordinal alpha >.70). Concurrent validity was in the expected direction, with higher correlations with measures of attenuated positive symptoms vs negative symptoms of psychosis (Steigers' z test, P < .005 in all comparisons). LCA identified three classes, with 217 (33.4%) participants in the "high aberrant salience" class. Gender and age were not related to class membership. Compared to the baseline class, SPQ scores in the schizotypy range were more likely in the "high aberrant salience" class (OR = 39.1; 95%confidence interval: 5.30-288.1). AS is a relatively common experience among Italian young people. The study also confirmed the validity of field-testing ASI as a tool for the real-world characterization of people with vulnerability to psychosis, such as symptomatic help seekers with clinical high-risk states.

Is there an association between body uneasiness and aberrant salience in anorexic patients? A preliminary study

The process whereby objects and representations come to be attention grabbing and capture thought and behaviour is called salience, and it is defined as aberrant when a significance is allocated to neutral stimuli. The Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) is a scale to measure aberrant salience, characterized by 29 dichotomic items. By now, a correlation between aberrant salience and eating disorders is unknown. Aim of this study is to evaluate an alteration of salience in patients with anorexia nervosa, to estimate the existance of a correlation between aberrant salience and the experience of body shape.MethodsTwenty-six female patients with AN (diagnosed using DSM-5) were enrolled at the Psychiatry Department of Florence. Psychopathological features were assessed at the time of enrollment using the following scales: SCL-90-R, BUT, EDE-Q. Salience alteration was assessed by the means of the ASI. Statistical analysis were realized using SPSS 20.0 with Spearman bivariate correlation.ResultsMean age was (mean ± SD) 26.2 ± 8.72 and mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 16.1 ± 2.46. Global Severity Index (GSI), Positive Symptom Total (PST) and Positive Symptom Distress Symptom Index (PSDI) were estimated for BUT and SCL-90-R and compared to total value of ASI. Thus, we found a statistical significant (P &lt; 0.05) direct correlation between ASI and BUTpsdi and ASI and SCL-90-Rgsi (correlation coefficient of 0.446 and 0.398, respectively).ConclusionIn this study, we found a significant direct correlation between Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) values and one dimension of body uneasiness in anorexic patients. These preliminary data need further studies with a wider sample to confirm the above-mentioned data.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Aberrant salience and alexithymia in subthreshold psychotic experiences among adolescent migrants in Italy: A comparison with native Italian adolescents

IntroductionIn this decade in the Italian context, there has been a significant increase of the immigration phenomenon. Consistent data indicated higher risk of psychotic experiences among migrants. Poor work investigated clinical variables associated with stronger subthreshold psychotic experiences among this population of adolescents. Aberrant salience, the biased assignment of significance to otherwise innocuous stimuli, and alexithymia, the difficulty identifying/describing feelings are believed to have a role in the onset and maintenance of psychotic symptoms. No study evaluated whether they could moderate the relation between migrant status and psychotic experiences among in adolescence.ObjectivesThe current study investigated whether salience and alexithymia predicted more intense subthreshold psychotic experiences and moderated the effect of migrant status among migrant and native Italian adolescents.MethodsSeventy-three adolescents born in other countries than Italy and 75 native Italian adolescents (mean age = 17.57, SD = 2.08, 47.30% females) completed the aberrant salience inventory, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and the screening for psychotic experiences.ResultsMigrant adolescents had higher levels of subthreshold psychotic experiences (F = 10.65, P &lt; 0.01), alexithymia (F = 8.93, P &lt; 0.01) and salience (F = 4.38, P &lt; 0.05) than native Italian adolescents. A main effect of aberrant salience and alexithymia on subthreshold psychotic experiences emerged. An interaction effect between migrant status and alexithymia was found: migrant adolescents with stronger alexithymia had more intense subthreshold psychotic experiences.ConclusionsPublic health policies should consider migrant adolescents as a group at risk for stronger subthreshold psychotic experiences. Prevention programs could take into account alexithymia as a target of intervention for this population of adolescents.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Dysmorphic concern is related to delusional proneness and negative affect in a community sample

Body image concerns are common in the general population and in some mental illnesses reach pathological levels. We investigated whether dysmorphic concern with appearance (a preoccupation with minor or imagined defects in appearance) is explained by psychotic processes in a community sample. In a cross-sectional design, two hundred and twenty six participants completed an online survey battery including: The Dysmorphic Concern Questionnaire; the Peters Delusional inventory; the Aberrant Salience Inventory; and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale. Participants were native English speakers residing in Australia. Dysmorphic concern was positively correlated with delusional proneness, aberrant salience and negative emotion. Regression established that negative emotion and delusional proneness predicted dysmorphic concern, whereas, aberrant salience did not. Although delusional proneness was related to body dysmorphia, there was no evidence that it was related to aberrant salience. Understanding the contribution of other psychosis processes, and other health related variables to the severity of dysmorphic concern will be a focus of future research.

The clinical, psychopathological and neurobiological features of salience

Salience is an integration process that allows to give attention to internal or external stimuli which grow in relevance becoming able to influence thoughts and behaviors. On the contrary, aberrant salience leads to the attribution of significance to innocuous or natural stimuli. Aberrant salience plays a basic role in the early phases of psychosis, mainly in the development of "revelation", but it also contributes to maintain the disorder. Nowadays, the current and specific instrument to assess this symptom is the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) both in clinical and non-clinical samples. Furthermore, the documented interrelation between the dysregulation of the salience attribution and the dopamine system could explain the correlation between aberrant salience, substance abuse and development of psychotic symptoms. The assessment of aberrant salience in people with prodromal symptoms or at risk to develop them, could be a noteworthy clinical tool both for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. The aim of this review is to analyze the concept of salience: definition, historical and psychopathological background, neurobiological underpinnings, association with substance abuse, assessing instruments and clinical features.

A pilot psychometric study of aberrant salience state in patients with Parkinson's disease and its association with dopamine replacement therapy.

An overactive striatal dopaminergic neurotransmission is described in psychosis and may be associated with a state of aberrant salience attribution. This pilot psychometric study investigated if features suggestive of an aberrant salience state, a condition of psychosis proneness, are associated with dopamine replacement therapy in patients with early Parkinson's disease (PD). 77 participants (50 medicated PD patients, 12 newly diagnosed drug-naive PD patients and 15 healthy controls) were enrolled and assessed with the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI). Differences between groups were found for ASI scores, and ASI scores correlated with the dopaminergic therapy, in particular levodopa. These findings preliminary suggested that the presence and the degree of an aberrant salience state may be associated with features of the dopaminergic therapy; further studies are needed to investigate which neuropsychiatric complications more common in PD patients may be characterized by an underlying aberrant salience state.

1029 – Relationship between aberrant salience processing and psychotic symptoms in a clinical trans-diagnostic sample: preliminary data

Introduction Aberrant salience consists of the unusual or incorrect assignment of salience, significance or value to different innocuous stimuli. It has been hypothesized that subjects with an aberrant salience could be proneness to develop psychosis. Despite the importance of this concept in psychosis, only few instruments assess aberrant salience. Objectives and aims To evaluate aberrant salience processing in a clinical trans-diagnostic sample and its relationship with psychotic symptoms. Methods Thirty-six outpatient subjects attending the Psychiatric Unit of the University of Florence were recruited: 9 with Major Depression Disease (MDD), 8 with Schizophrenia (SC), 19 with Bipolar Disorder (BD). Patients were assessed by means of a clinical interview (SCID-I/P) and several questionnaires, including the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI). Results The three groups showed significant differences in the lifetime presence of psychotic symptoms, with higher frequency in BD and SC patients (p 14) reported more frequently past and lifetime psychotic symptoms (p Conclusion Aberrant salience is significantly associated to lifetime psychotic symptoms. Thus it represents a relevant psychopathologic dimension that requires a careful investigation in patients with an history of psychotic events. The ASI could represent an useful instrument to evaluate the proneness of clinical and pre-clinical samples to develop psychotic symptoms.

The Aberrant Salience Inventory: A new measure of psychosis proneness.

Aberrant salience is the unusual or incorrect assignment of salience, significance, or importance to otherwise innocuous stimuli and has been hypothesized to be important for psychosis and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Despite the importance of this concept in psychosis research, no questionnaire measures are available to assess aberrant salience. The current research describes 4 studies designed to develop and validate the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) as a measure of aberrant salience. In Study 1, an overinclusive item pool was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis, and items were kept or discarded based on factor loadings. In Study 2, the 5-factor structure of the ASI was confirmed with a confirmatory factor analysis, and a 2nd-order factor analysis found evidence consistent with a single higher order factor. Study 2 also provided support for the scale score's convergent validity as the ASI was strongly associated with psychosis-proneness measures and dissociation measures and moderately correlated with measures associated with levels of dopamine. This study also provided support for its discriminant validity as the ASI was only weakly associated with social anhedonia. Study 3 found that participants with elevated psychosis proneness had increased ASI scores, but in contrast, participants with elevated social anhedonia had similar scores to comparison participants. Finally, Study 4 found that participants with a history of psychosis had elevated ASI scores compared to a psychiatric comparison group. Overall, the ASI demonstrated sound psychometric properties and may be useful for measuring aberrant salience and psychosis proneness in clinical and nonclinical samples.